Authority without Care: Moral Values behind the Mask Mandate Response

Understand

Face masks are one of the cheapest and most effective non-pharmaceutical interventions available against airborne diseases such as COVID-19.

• Unfortunately, they have been met with resistance by a substantial fraction of the populace, especially in the U.S.
• In this study, we uncover the latent moral values that underpin the response to the mask mandate, and paint them against the country's political backdrop.
• We monitor the discussion about masks on Twitter, which involves almost 600k users in a time span of 7 months.